Malia Obama has definitely inherited her parents’ strong work ethic. At just 19-years-old, she has a pretty solid resume, having interned on the set of
Girls
and for The Weinstein Company. And the girl hasn’t even started Harvard yet! Back in 2014, Malia worked as a production assistant on the set of the Halle Berry-led miniseries
Extant
. Talking to Andy Cohen on
Watch What Happens Live
, Halle Berry revealed what Malia was like as an intern. To no one’s surprise, Berry had nothing but praise for the
Pro Era fan
.
“She was down to do whatever a PA is asked to do, and I had wild respect for her for that,” Berry told Cohen. “Everybody couldn’t really see her as a PA, although she tried and tried to be one. We just couldn’t really see her as one, but to her credit, she tried very hard to be one.” PAs typically assist with pretty humbling tasks like setting up equipment, making copies of scripts, and fetching coffee.
Given her secret service detail, Malia is not necessarily the best person to send for a quick cup of coffee. Lena Dunham said that while Malia was more than eager to do her fair share on the set of Girls, there were a lot of intern tasks the former first daughter couldn’t reasonably be asked to do. “I mean, obviously we weren’t, like, making her go get our coffee,” Dunham told Howard Stern in February. “You’re not going to send [the president’s daughter to get coffee]. But she wanted to do all the jobs. That was the cool thing. She was totally enthusiastic.”
Then again, Malia is not your standard intern. Dunham remembers being pretty intimidated by Malia’s impressive knowledge of cinema. “I once asked her, ‘What’s your favorite movie?’ and she was like, ‘Well, do you want me to list by my favorite director, actor, or cinematographer?'” Dunham recounted. “And I was like, ‘You are smarter than me, let’s just be done with that.'”
Since graduating from Sidwell Friends School last year, Malia has spent part of her gap year interning for Harvey Weinstein in NYC. She’s set to begin her freshman year at Harvard University this fall, where we’re sure she’ll continue to majorly win at life.
Credits
Text André-Naquian Wheeler
Image via Instagram